Prevention-first hull maintenance
Subvision is building ZIMA, a hull-climbing subsea rover designed to prevent early-stage biofouling on commercial ship hulls. Instead of waiting for buildup and cleaning later, ZIMA is built to keep hulls cleaner through short, repeatable maintenance passes.
A one-minute look at ZIMA, how it moves across the hull, and why prevention matters more than reactive cleaning.
Why this matters
Hull condition is not just a maintenance issue. It affects vessel efficiency, coating life, emissions, and ecosystem risk at the same time. Subvision’s approach is to intervene early, so operators need less aggressive action later.
Our journey
The progression matters because it shows how the team works: build, test, learn, and tighten the system with each iteration.
An early proof of concept used to shape the earliest underwater mobility and systems architecture.
Early in-water testing helped validate motion, integration, and what needed to change before scaling up.
Render of the current ZIMA direction, showing the rover layout and treatment architecture on the hull.
Prototype assembly work translating the design into hull-scale hardware.
External support and public validation helped move the project from student build to venture-ready system.
Interactive demo
Growth keeps appearing on the plate below. Drive the rover yourself, or switch to auto passes to see how short, repeatable maintenance cycles keep a hull close to its clean baseline.
Illustrative interaction to show the prevention-first idea. Not a simulation of real system performance.
Funding sourced
Total funding sourced across public programs, institutional backing, and awards.
$32K
Ocean Startup Project support through Ocean Idea Challenge and Ocean Startup Challenge.
$5K
SFU Engineering Student Society support that helped back the team during early prototype development.
$13.5K
Supported by the Chang Institute in building the business behind the technology.
$1K
SFU OppFest prize support that added early validation and showcase visibility.
$3.5K
Leo Maddox Prize through the Environmental Innovation Challenge, recognizing the project's ocean and environmental relevance.
Partner conversations
Subvision is looking for technical collaborators, pilot partners, and operators who want a better path to keeping hulls clean over time.
